Bike-share operations — along with e-scooters — could be contributing to reductions in bus ridership as city dwellers forgo waiting at bus stops and grab a bike easily and cheaply via smartphone app. A study has found that every 1,000 bikes on or near a bus route in New York City contributed to a 1.7 percent to 2.4 decrease in bus ridership. That’s from a new study out of the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Kentucky.

Bus trips tend to be two to three miles in length, said Greg Erhardt, one of the authors of the report Understanding the Recent Transit Ridership Decline in Major US Cities: Service Cuts or Emerging Modes?

Given that the length of bus trips closely mirrors those of bike trips, the two modes operate in competition to each other.
More>>